Kill the Madman
by Brookeisthename
Summary: What if the Joker never switched locations and instead of rescuing Harvey Dent, Batman saved Rachel Dawes? How will she react to the death of her boyfriend? See how the Two-Face persona lives on through the White Knight's significant other.
1. Mad House

_An alternate ending to the Dark Knight where Harvey is the one who dies and Rachel lives, taking on the Two-Face persona._

Rachel stood before the towering asylum in which contained the most notorious of the skum scraped off from the streets of Gotham. Many of those she had helped prove guilty under the court of law, sending them into the dirty confines of an Arkham cell. A job well done, if she'd say so herself. Conscious of that fact, however she acknowledged that she was highly abhorred and in a sense, infamous to the mentally ill patience among the facility. But Rachel couldn't feel any more thrilled with that idea, which was quite out of the ordinary for someone of her character. Lately though, she had felt a tad bit...different. Free, to say the least or perhaps a better fitting word would be unrestrained. The point being that it wasn't the same old Rachel Dawes she was used to. She noticed that this...change had taken place the night she was kept up by the constant nagging in her brain to pay a visit to her true love's murder; the cold-hearted, mass-murdering, circus freak they called the Joker. The acrimony she had for him burned in her stomach and pulsed through her veins. Her immediate reaction would be to spit on the clown fiend to show how worthless he truly was and he wouldn't mind _that_ one bit, certainly not. The Joker had always been such a big fan of saliva, it seemed, with that tongue always slithering out of that repulsively red painted mouth to saturate his broken skin. The aversion towards him rose involuntarily in her once again. Like magic, he summoned that feeling within the pit of her stomach.

Using that as a drive she advanced towards the building, pulling the door open with such force the people within the room turned to look at her. The calm and collected facade quickly blanketed over her face as she approached the woman at the front who appeared fatigued and very agitated.

"Hello, I'm here to see...well I don't uh...know his real name..."

The woman didn't move an inch just stared blankly at her.

"He goes by 'the Joker'."

The woman sighed, "Name?" she drew, the word being stretched into two syllables instead of one.

"Rachel Dawes of the DA's office."

She began typing on the computer in front of her before Rachel stopped her.

"Actually, I didn't set an exact date to meet him..."

"Are you working on his case?" the same dullness unchanging in her tone.

"Uh...yes," Rachel lied.

With an exasperated sigh, she stood up from behind the desk and headed towards the door on her left.

"All right I'll get the security guards to pull him out early from his session with doctor Quinzel," she muttered as she disappeared behind the door. The lack of enunciation almost made her words sound like a long, jumbled mumble.

Rachel waited impatiently, attempting to make her eagerness subtle. While she lingered there, she read the quote displayed high on the wall. 'Arkham asylum: where nobody leaves unfixed'. Pondering that for a moment, she tried to find the meaning behind it. Did it really just mean _that_, or was there more to it? The way she viewed it was her exiting the asylum with things settled and her mind finally at peace, which only meant one thing.

At once, the door reopened and out came the jaded woman along with a brawny, black security guard.

"He's going to have to check your belongings and do a pat down search, Miss Dawes," she informed her, resorting to her position behind the desk.

"Wait, hold on Dawes? As in Rachel Dawes the attorney?" The towering man asked.

She nodded promptly, "Yes, that's me."

"Oh hey, how you doin'? I hear you all over the news, woman! You're much prettier in person."

Rachel smiled appreciatively, "Thank you."

"Hey, Trisha," he called over to the front desk, "We don't needa check her out. She's Rachel Dawes, you know from the news?"

'Trisha' kept her eyes locked to her computer screen as she typed steadily. She didn't bother to protest bu t rather, let out a little, inattentive groan.

"All right, less' go," he taped her on the shoulder and opened the white door for her.


	2. Face to face with the Devil himself

Rachel held her purse tightly to herself as if it were to serve as some sort of protection from the crazies. She glanced from wall to wall uneasily, as the guard and her filed down the linoleum asylum hallway. Not once had she seen more than a dark figure in the shadows behind the smudged up widows until she connected gazes with Crane, his familiar face taking on a scrutinizing expression behind the confines of his cell. He smirked at her without the sufficient attention required to form even an evil grin, his mind was elsewhere. Rachel didn't see the corners of his mouth fail, but apparently, the smile dropped as she passed by.

They flew passed a few more doors closer to the Joker's location. Before stepping into the room, she felt the intense hate churning vehemently inside her stomach again, brewing the rage required to supply her with the strength she needed to give to him the consequences of his foolish actions. Her fist balled up, it aching to take a swing at the demented lunatic, but she kept a hold on herself. Physical harm would be best if saved for the conclusion of his story.

"Okay, he's right behind this door," the guard said, "This guy is _deranged_, you better watch yourself. I would go in there wit' you, but I know how secretive you lawyers have to be with clients. I'll be right out here if you need me."

With a nod and a polite 'thank you', Rachel entered the room eagerly, oblivious to the fact that she had rushed in before the guard had finished his last sentence. And then, as if it had been ages, she saw the beast of a man once again, cuffed and shackled, doing nothing but sitting there licking his lips absently. Despite the boredom on his face, his countenance displayed his insanity and after taking in the familiar manic expression, fireworks seemed to go off inside her. Bursts of repugnance, antipathy and hostility for this one man. The man who bereaved her of her true love. The man who would pay for what he did. The man who couldn't do a thing, while his hands were tied.

As she took her first stride inside, his black circled eyes flickered up, meeting hers. A twisted delight reached them, diverting his expression into a more enthusiastic one. The amusement held in that heavily made up visage was so profuse it was almost lewd.

"Well hello there, beautiful," his piercing, sardonic tone vibrated off the walls.

Rachel kept her mouth shut as she walked to the table he sat behind and pulled out the chair on the opposite end.

"What business do _you_ have with _me_, hm? Come to check up on little old me, have you? Or are you just here to play lawyer?"

Rachel took a seat and stared into those dark, taunting eyes. "I'm not here to be your lawyer. I'm here to talk."

Upsetting the quiet, he drew a long, forced breath before ending with an array of chuckles, "Talk?" he asked, "With _me_? Well I'm normally not a very attentive listener, but I'll hear what yuh havta say since we are..._close_ .What it is today, hm? Feelings?"

"I want to speak to you about Harvey," she hissed though her teeth, the tone ice cold.

He leered at her, the manic grin spreading wider on those white painted cheeks, "Ah, so it _is_ feelings."

Rachel took a moment to breath before continuing. To have a breakdown in front of the clown would only bring pleasure to him. She had to be strong in her words.

"Can I ask why you did it?"

"I didn't do anything, that was all Batman. He chose for the 'White Knight' to be blown up...but to be honest, Rach, it wasn't meant to be Harvey. _He_ wasn't suppose to die," the Joker jabbed a long, white finger at her, "It was you. Yuh see, by rescuing his damsel in distress, Bats proved himself to be the typical super hero...which is _boring_. If he would've saved your beau, well then _that_ would've been a whole other story. Everyone thought he was 'incorruptible', but I saw potential in him," the maniac's tongue wrestled with his left scar as his eyes fluttered around in thought, "Well _one_ side of him anyway. He was a very...double-dealing kind of guy. _Two-faced_."

Rachel shook her head at the nutcase, thinking him no more than the urine stain at the corner.

"You're too deranged for me to comprehend what you're even saying. Harvey wasn't like that, you're delusional."

"Now don't go asserting your meaningless little opinions like all the other crazies who work here," he cut, "Looks to me like Harvey didn't show his little bunny his other side, the one that was just _so_ corrupt!" He cackled viciously.

Suddenly, Rachel clutched his orange collar, bringing his hideous face close.

"Listen to me, clown," she growled under her breath, "You knew _nothing_ about him. He was an honorable man who would have never come _close_ to sharing your putrid view on the world."

"Ooh hoo-hoo! Now, I'm no psychologist, but you sure do display the same behavior your little boyfriend did. I think I like this side of you better, Rach."

Her fist balled up once again, the clutch so tight her fingers started to cramp. This time, however, there was no need to hold herself back so she bashed the clown straight across his repulsive face. He blinked in shock a few times before his lips stretched into another dark, amused grin.

And there was that feeling again. The unrestrained one that gave her a strength she never even knew she had.

She searched through her purse hastily, locating the red container in a mere thirty seconds. After she twisted off the lid, she held it over the clown's head until the liquid emptied out over his body.

"If Harvey was burned to death, you will too," she spit in a menacing tone, her eyes remaining locked onto the Joker's.

Now this was her kind of game. Adrenalin washed through her body as she brought the lighter in viewing distance. This was just like deja vu except _this_ time, Rachel had the upper hand. She smiled as a brilliant idea rose in her thoughts to force him back into this deja vu as well. When the Joker's eyes slipped down to the item in her hand, they widened the tiniest bit before returning back to his overjoyed and amused appearance. Rachel, however, took his expression in a whole other way.

"Oh you look nervous. Is it the lighter?" She asked mockingly behind a malicious smile, bringing him back to the night they met "Wanna know why I have it?" Rachel clutched his hostile face with her free hand, some of his caked on makeup rubbing off on her fingers, "So I had a boyfriend, far better looking than you, who asks me to marry him. I didn't give him a straight answer because I was a little undecided at the time," she caught his black eyes wandering off and pulled his chin so he was facing her again, "Hey. One day, a madman comes along and forces him into this little game he never even chose to get involved with in the first place. I just want to see my Harvey again, hm?" she hissed, continuing to ridicule him, "I just want him to know that my answer is yes! And you know what? I can't do a damn thing now because the lunatic blew him up to bits!" Rachel gritted her teeth, all the aversion and repugnance flowing out through her eyes, "So, I do this," her finger fell and the flame scorched close to his scars, "To the psycho. Now, I'm starting to see the funny side, and just for you, I'll be smiling the whole time you burn!"

All of a sudden she heard the door swing open behind her, "Freeze! Put your hands up where I can see them."


End file.
